Chapter 2 Data assembly
The following chapter details how we determined the area of interest and where we acquired the data products to be used in the connectivity analyses. We include justification of data sources where appropriate.
2.1 Define the focal area
This project focuses on the area covered by the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor MBC, which spans most of mainland central America. This excludes islands in central America and the Caribbean, as these will likely need a differing set of ridge-to-reef definitions. We also exclude Mexico.
The full focal area spans:
The area in orange is the region which we aquire data for, the red area represents the regions for which we explore the connectivity. The reason for the expansion is to minimise the possibility of edge effects.
Below we show the exclusion of surrounding islands:

For an up to date assessment of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor in Panama alone see:
2.2 Data products
2.2.1 Protected areas
Shape files for protected areas were downloaded from the Protected Planet database. The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the most up-to-date and complete source of information on protected areas, updated monthly with submissions from governments, non-governmental organizations, landowners, and communities. It is managed by the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) with support from IUCN and its World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA).
We buffered the area of interest by 10km, then excluded any protected ares which fell outside of that zone. This means marine protected areas >10km from the shore are not considered. There are two broad types of park - National and International designations - there are also many further subdivisions not considered here.
As recommended in the WDPA best practices guide, we removed any PA that did not report its area, or with a ‘Proposed’ status or ‘UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserve’ designation (Note core areas remain under national park designations).
We now also use the package wdpar to clean known issues in the database (i.e. filter out overlapping sections).

Data source: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (year), Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) [February 2022], Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN Available at: Protected Planet.
And and all protected areas in an interactive version: